Shoe Carnival (NASDAQ:SCVL) Board Initiates Share Buyback Plan

Shoe Carnival (NASDAQ:SCVL) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 12th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 5.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SCVL. Williams Trading increased their price target on Shoe Carnival from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Shoe Carnival from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 30th.

Shoe Carnival Trading Down 0.3 %

SCVL opened at $34.27 on Friday. Shoe Carnival has a 1-year low of $24.94 and a 1-year high of $46.92. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.55. The stock has a market cap of $931.12 million, a PE ratio of 12.60 and a beta of 1.53.

Shoe Carnival (NASDAQ:SCVL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. Shoe Carnival had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 6.12%. The firm had revenue of $306.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Shoe Carnival will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Shoe Carnival Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be issued a $0.135 dividend. This represents a $0.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 13th. Shoe Carnival’s dividend payout ratio is 19.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Shoe Carnival

In related news, Chairman Wayne J. Weaver purchased 285,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $33.91 per share, for a total transaction of $9,681,305.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 4,173,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,524,368.39. This trade represents a 7.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 34.70% of the company’s stock.

About Shoe Carnival

Shoe Carnival, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a family footwear retailer in the United States. The company offers range of dress, casual, work, and athletic shoes, as well as sandals and boots for men, women, and children; and various accessories. The company also operates stores, and sells its products through online shopping at shoecarnival.com, as well as through mobile app.